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“Absolutely not.”
“Come on, it will be nice. Don’t you get stuffy in there?”
“No I do not.”
Ultra Magnus was clenching the edge of his desk, glaring down at Rodimus Prime. The co-captain of the Lost Light was grinning up at him and suggestion thew most ridiculous thing.
“Come on you walked around with Ten.”
“That was in my second form. And on the ship. Which is sterile... For the most part. You are asking me to go planet side in my smallest, truest self and walk around.”
Rodimus tossed himself over the desk, and ultimately Magnus’ data pads. “So you will walk around with Ten but not me? I see how it is.” the speedster said it sadly, his lower lip trembling with false sorrow.
Ultra Magnus knew it was just for show, but he could not help but feel guilty. He let his desk go, frowning at the dents he left. “Fine. Stop that fake crying. I will do it.”
“It wasn’t fake but yay!” Rodimus sat back up and smiled at him. “I’ll meet you outside the Rodpod.”
Magnus let out a low groan. But nodded.
-----
Minimus Ambus clung to the seat of the Rodpod as it slowly made its way to the planet surface. He did not like the Rodpod. it was self indulgent and ridiculous. It rode smoothly though, which was good on his nerves.
“Your gonna love this. Trust me Magnus.” Rodimus said, smiling as he steered the ship into the upper atmosphere. “You trust me right?”
“Sometimes.” Minimus said simply, ignoring the distressed sound Rodimus made. The speedster was lucky he trusted him at all.
The ship touched down and Rodimus stood up. “Need help getting out of-”
“I am small but I am not a helpless sparkling.” Minimus said, sliding off the seat and glaring at Rodimus.
Rodimus held up his hands, walking to the dock and opening the ramp and hopping off. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Well come one. Time for our walk together.”
Minimus followed him. He hesitated a moment before stepping off the ramp, slowly making his way along the clearing. “So why are we here?”
“Uh... Scans showed some crystal formations that might be nice to look at. We will walk there, look at them for a while, then walk back. Simple, no hassle. Baby steps you know?” Rodimus said, and Minimus could not help but be touched that Rodimus was not making him jump in a river or something.
“It sounds lovely.” Minimus said, content for the moment to just walk behind Rodimus and look at his aft.
Until he walked into a large riverbed. A muddy one.
“Captain.... Captain I can’t go any farther.” Minimus said, just looking at how the mud was clinging to Rodimus’ peds. Some mechs would like that. Find the look alluring, but he wasn’t ‘some mechs’.
Rodimus looked back, and then down. “Oh. No thats okay. I’ll carry you.”
“Absolutely not!”
Rodimus trudged back, holding out his hands. “Come on Magnus. No one will know I carried you. I promise I won’t tell anyone.” He didn’t wait for Minimus to say anything, simply picking him up and setting him on his shoulder.
Nothing undignified, which was okay. Minimus clutched Rodimus large sweeping shoulder armor, watching the ground wearily.
“Oh...”
“Oh what?” Minimus looked at Rodimus, his mustache twitching.
“I uh... My ped is stuck.” Rodimus said sheepishly, giving a hard yank on his ped. he chuckled. “I got it.”
“Rodimus don’t force it please-”
“I said I got it. Trust me. I know what I am doing.”
“Captain-”
“I got it!” Rodimus said, giving another hard yank. With a slick pop his ped was free, but he staggered, and Minimus toppled forwards.
With a wet slap Minimus landed front first into the mud. Rodimus grew stiff, and looked like he was considering laughing. Thankfully he did not. “Mags? Mags you okay?” Rodimus made his way to where Minimus was laying. reaching down and touching the little enforcer’s shoulder.
What he got was a muffled long beep. Long and unending. Like an error sound. Rodimus panicked, quickly picking Minimus up. “Mags? Magnus did I hurt you?” The sound was louder now and utterly terrifying. It didn’t help that Minimus was stiff as a board.
“Shit. Shit. Fuck.” Rodimus turned and made his way back the way the came. He lost his balance, which made Minimus spew binary shrilly. Rodimus caught himself though and kept going, running back onto the Rodpod.
“What can I get you? Do you need something?” Rodimus asked, resting his hands on Minimus’ shoulder and picking off a twig.
Minimus spewed more binary and static before going back into the long beep. His whole frame was shaking now.
“Magnus you need to tell me how to help!”
The response was not verbal, but a ping. Lots of pings. All of them saying in capital glyphs “POWERWASH”
“Right! Right a wash! Don’t worry Magnus I’ll clean you up.” He picked Minimus back up and took him to the showers, used for sterilization after trekking on alien worlds. He set Minimus down and took the hose, fumbling with the controls and turing it on. He quickly showered Minimus down with the cleaning solvent, lifting his arms and adjusting the power of the spray to get into his seams.
The horrible beeping was over now, but Minimus was unresponsive. Simply letting Rodimus move him around to be cleaned, his red optics wide, but off-lined. They finally turned on, glowing dimly when Rodimus started toweling him off.
“Mags I’m sorry.” Rodimus said, “Is there something I can do to make it up to you?”
Minimus looked at Rodimus, optics still wide. He opened his mouth and a bit of static came out before he found his voice. “No.”
Rodimus’ face fell. “Magnus surely there is a way for me to make it up to you! Please!” He shook minimus a little, “I’ll do all the reports. Even Megatron’s and yours! I’ll sand down your desk and get rid of all the carvings in it. I’ll do it to mine too! Please forgive me!”
Minimus’ mustache twitched.
“I was just trying to spend time with you! The... The real you. I was...”
“Jealous of Ten.
Rodimus blushed, opened his mouth, then closed it again. He quickly looked away from Minimus and fiddled with his servos.
“I think all of those things should make up for this.” Minimus said, “And not telling any one about this ever.”
Rodimus nodded. “My lips are sealed. No one will ever know.”
Minimus narrowed his optics before nodding. He would trust Rodimus with this. This was something Rodimus could be trusted with.